My Regrets
by EvilMicella
Summary: After Yuki gets in an accident, Ayame finds himself on a train to the hospital. He thinks back at the memories of Yuki and him and his determination to close the gap between them. Slight Yukiru
1. Henji

**My Regrets**

**-**

**Author's Note-**Let's make this author's note quick so you can read on XD I think it would be appropriate to say that this is going to be in Ayame's POV (Unless said otherwise, plus the flashbacks aren't in 1st person). Well, I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Fruits Basket. Natsuki Takaya does. Plus, I only own Volumes 1-10 (I feel so empty, considering in Japan and other countries, there are going to be 17 Volumes.) I have to wait a year or so before I see _those_ (_starts crying hysterically)

* * *

_

"Miine! Could you go in the back and get this gentleman's maid uniform he ordered, please? There should be only one back there," I said to my assistant as she rushed, happily, to the back room. I sighed and looked around my shop. It was full of costumers today; more then I was use to, that is.

Miine came back with a traditional maid's uniform, much like the one Shigure got from me for poor young Tohru-kun, wrapped up in a plastic bag to keep any dust and dirt off.

"Here you go, sir!" she said, handing it to him. "I hope your wife or girlfriend enjoys it!"

"Yeah," the guy said, looking at the uniform. "I'll…I-I mean...She'll…love it, I'm sure. Er, thank you." He quickly rushed out of the shop, leaving Miine with a puzzled look.

'_Ah, look at all these wonderful fantasies!'_ I thought, smiling. I then heard the phone ring from the backroom, and went to go get it. With caution, I moved across the room, which was littered with wrapping paper and fabric. I should probably clean up a little bit before I leave. The phone entered my line of vision and I quickly picked it up.

"Hello," I said in my joy-filled voice. "This is Ayame! Would you like me to tell you about the sales we are having? It's only this weeken-"

"Aaya," the voice on the other line said before I could finish. I instantly knew who it was, however his voice _did_ sound unusually serious today. Hopefully everything was alright…

"Gure-san! Hello!" I said, trying to keep my voice cheerful, though something deep inside told me I was about to receive terrible news. "What is the occasion of which you have called me about?"

"I just got a call," he said, his voice a bit shaky. "There was an accident."

"What happened?" I asked, though it was barely audible. "What kind of accident? Who'd it happen to?" So many questions were now swimming inside my head, drowning all my rational thoughts and suffocating me as I started to slowly sink to the depth of my imaginary ocean. However, now it started to feel as if it was going to burst from frustration.

"A car accident," Shigure said, still in a shaky voice. I never heard him speak like this before, it was almost unnerving. "Yuki…he was walking home from school after his school counsel meeting …and in the rain, considering this amount of it…the driver of the car…he couldn't see clearly." My mind started to spin. Or was it the room…? Everything was flooding me, and I felt so trapped.

"I'll be right there," I said in a whisper, though loud enough for Shigure to hear. I grabbed my coat and ran out to the front, the phone hanging insignificantly from its cord.

"Miine, I have to go," I said clearly, though my voice was about to disappear completely soon. I could tell that Miine caught a glimpse of my face, which now had a single tear running down my cheek. She didn't question my sudden need to leave the shop, and I was very grateful; she knew it was important for me not to explain in full detail, as I would usually have in any other event. I quickly pulled on my coat and pushed open the door, only barely hearing the bell above it ring.

Shigure was right; it _was_ pouring rain out. It didn't matter now, though; I needed to get to my brother. I ran to the train station, which was luckily only a few blocks away from my shop.

After paying for a ticket, I reached the earliest train to Tokyo, where my family usually went if our injuries were too serious for Tori-san to take care of. I took a seat in the back as the train started moving, and looked at my watch.

'_It's been 10 minutes already,' _I thought, my heart beating slightly faster then before._ 'I _have_ to get there soon.'_

All I could do now was wait for the train to get in the closest station, _then_ I could rush a few more blocks to the hospital.

"Thirty minutes," I said to myself, and leaned back in the seat. All I could think about was Yuki's condition. I forgot to ask Shigure how he was; if he was awake; if he was even _alive_…

I shook my head at the thought. '_What kind of thing is that to think of? He _has_ to be alive, I'd feel _something_ if he wasn't…right?'_

"No, no, Shigure would have told me right away if he had died, I know he would," I said aloud, trying to comfort and relax myself as I rubbed my temple with my index finger. Finally, I was able to breathe right, and think clearly.

I started to think back on the last time I saw Yuki. It was only yesterday, and of course, like always, we didn't exactly 'bond'.

* * *

"_Why, Aaya! What a pleasant surprise," Shigure said cheerfully as he opened the door of his home. Ayame came in with a wide smile and laughed. _

"_Hello 'Gure-san! I haven't seen you in such a long while, I decided it was time for a nice little visit!" he said as he followed Shigure into the living room. "I hope you haven't cheated on me; I'd be so devastated!"_

"_Of course I haven't, my darling Aaya!" Shigure said with a little gleam in his eyes. They turned to each other, gave a thumb up, and said their usual 'Alright!'_

"_It's only morning and you're already here?" Kyo said as he walked into the room with a yawn. "You better not be staying the night."_

"_No, no, not tonight. But please, do not cry over it, little Kyonkichi!" Ayame said dramatically. Before Kyo could yell out a threat, Yuki lazily come in with a yawn. He saw Ayame in the middle of the room, blinked, and turned around to head back towards his room. However, Ayame quickly floated over to his younger brother and dragged him back._

"_Why, my darling little brother! You've gotten so much taller since I last saw you!" Ayame said, getting Yuki locked in a tight hug._

"_That was only a week ago; it wasn't that long. And get off me!" Yuki squeezed out of Ayame's grasp. "Why are you here anyways? Haven't we gotten enough of you already?" Ayame looked a little hurt at the comment, but quickly disguised it with a heartfelt laugh. After all, Yuki wasn't a morning person, anyways._

"_Of course not! Is it so wrong to see my little brother?" he pretended to sniff and ball his eyes out. Yuki rolled his own eyes and got up for the kitchen._

"_I'm going to help Honda-san with the breakfast," he muttered._

"_Cranky little kid in the morning, isn't he?" Shigure said with a smile as Yuki disappeared into the kitchen. He excused himself and went to his room to quickly finish up his novel for his editor…for once. Ayame also excused himself to go and help Yuki and Tohru with breakfast, hoping to get in some brother bonding time. However, he stopped outside of the kitchen when he heard his name._

"_So Ayame-san's here?" one voice said cheerfully; it was definitely Tohru's. "I'm glad! He hasn't been around lately." Yuki grumbled._

"_I'm not looking forward to today," he said with a sigh. "I just wish he was more like this years ago, not now. It's a little annoying how he tries to be the 'perfect brother'."_

"_He cares about you, though," Tohru said. "He wants to help you out, and make sure you're alright."_

"_Yeah, well, I needed more of that 10 years ago then I do now," Yuki muttered. Ayame quietly stepped away from the door and back into the living room. Kyo watched him come in with a pale, almost devastated look._

"_What's wrong with you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Ayame sat silently for a few seconds before looking at Kyo with a small, forced smile._

"_Nothing's wrong, Kyonkichi! You don't need to worry about me, even if you cannot help it!" he replied. However, soon after, he fell silent again and stared at the floor._

'I didn't think he hated me that much,'_ Ayame thought sadly._ 'I guess I don't blame him…I really never was there for him when he was younger; When he needed me the most. Well, I'm glad he's better now, even though he doesn't need me anymore."

I shook my head at the events that happened the previous day. More then anything, Yuki needed me now, and I was definitely going to be there. The train stopped at a station to let people off, and let others on. I looked at my watch for the umpteenth time, hoping that my stop would be coming up. However, I found that I still had twenty more minutes to spend on the cold train.

'_Suspense is never fun,'_ I thought bitterly as I watched the buildings go by when the train started up again.

* * *

**3rd person**

**-**

"As I've told you before, Mr. Sohma, you cannot see your cousin yet. He is still in surgery, and I'm not sure when he'll be out!" the nurse said with annoyance. Shigure sighed loudly and went back to take a seat with his other cousins and Tohru, who was staring off into space, almost heartbreakingly. Hatori, Haru, Momiji, Kisa, Kagura, and even Kyo and Hiro, were all there, as well, waiting for an update on Yuki's condition. They looked at him, hoping that Yuki was alright and that they could see him, but Shigure shook his head sadly.

"Calm down, Shigure," Hatori, who was sitting next to him, said. He was oddly calm himself, but though he didn't show it, he was definitely concerned for his younger cousin. "He's only been in surgery for almost an hour. It could take two, even four, more hours before it's over."

"You're a doctor, Ha'ri, do you think he'll be alright?" Momiji asked sadly. He had never been at a hospital before, and the stale smell was now starting bugging him. Momiji just couldn't bare the thought of someone staying here, especially Yuki.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what condition he's in, so I can't give you even a guess," Hatori said with a small sigh. He looked at the rabbit and saw his eyes sadden. "Don't worry, though. For all we know, it could be just a...broken arm, or something less critical like that." Momiji slowly nodded.

"Where's Ayame?" Hatori turned to ask Shigure.

"I'm not sure. I called him not more than thirty minutes ago," he replied. "I hope he was able to catch the train."

"If he doesn't get here in another thirty minutes, we should try calling him again. He really might have missed the train, and he doesn't have any other transportation; especially in _this_ weather," Hatori said, and he crossed his arms.

"I wonder how he's doing," Shigure asked silently. Hatori wondered the same thing himself as he watched the rain fall rapidly to the ground.

* * *

**(Ayame's POV)**

My eyes hadn't left the view from outside as the train whizzed by trees and buildings. I let out a sigh and finally tore my eyes away from the scenery and onto my watch. Although it seemed like I would reach the station at any second, the fact remains that I still had another ten more minutes before I could get off. My stomach was so uneasy that it felt as if I would just throw up right then and there on the train at any second. I looked at my watch again, hoping that the time would have magically sped up, though I knew it wouldn't, no matter how much I wanted it to.

'_I wonder how everyone else is doing with…' _I was unable to continue my thoughts of the main subject. The whole situation was extremely nerve-racking, that it almost seemed to have made my brain get off the subject by force. Not that I would protest; it was hard to think that something so horrible had happened to my younger brother. I didn't even know what kind of condition he was in, and that made the whole thing even worse.

However, what I did know was that I wasn't the only one with this intense amount of fear within me. Tohru-kun would surely be just as worried as I was, considering she was so close to Yuki. In fact, they're going out, at least for a month by now. It took a while to get my dearest brother to admit it to me. Of course, words or not, it was obvious that they were together.

-

_Ayame sat at the table with Shigure and gave a wide smile. He was on one of his many visits to Shigure's house that day, considering he hadn't been there for a while._

"_Gure-san, have you ever considered getting yourself a girlfriend?" Ayame asked, rather randomly, complete seriousness invading his normal deportment. Shigure had even splattered out some of the tea that he was about to swallow._

"_What are you going on about?" the dog asked, wiping himself clean of the warm drink on his kimono. "How is that relevant to anything?"_

"_I was just thinking, that's all," Ayame said, still smiling. "It actually would be a bit interesting for you to have one." Shigure raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Alright, alright, I want to know something…is Yuki and the Princess together?" To some degree, he felt uncertain about asking, even considering that he loved to pry in to other's lives (most being Yuki's). He had a sense of forbidding overcome him after he asked._

"_The Princess…? Oh, you mean Tohru-kun," Shigure said, then gave an indifferent shrug. "I wouldn't know. They somehow got the idea that telling me anything of that subject would cause me to say something perverted. I haven't a clue where they got _that_ idea from."_

_Ayame gave a nod and started to take a sip of his tea when he saw two figures in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and slightly leaned back to clearly see who the figures were, and what they were doing. Through the opened sliding door, he saw Yuki and Tohru with bags in their hands, obviously filled with groceries, talking and even laughing. Ayame found himself smile when he saw this, as he had never seen Yuki so happy before._

"_Aaya?" Shigure voice brought Ayame back to face the dog. "What is so interesting that it got you to smile like that?" He got up and followed Ayame's gaze right outside. The dog snickered to himself and sat next to Ayame, obviously enjoying the scene. Sometimes even Ayame wondered why Shigure hadn't been locked up yet. _

_Just as Ayame was about to return to a normal seating position, being that he felt like he shouldn't be watching the scene, he saw Yuki lean forward and kiss Tohru on the lips. He could tell that both were blushing at the action, but what really got him was what he thought he heard Yuki say, even though he couldn't hear anything but mumbles, being that they were whispering. Shigure, too, noticed, and smiled mischievously._

"_Finally," he said with a small laugh. "It took long enough for Yuki-kun to tell Tohru-kun that he loved her." Ayame gave a heartfelt laugh, knowing very well that this would help Yuki become happy. His laugh subsided when the two finally came inside to put the bags away. Ayame, after giving a wink to Shigure, got up and pretended to loll around to where Yuki and Tohru were. He instead found only his brother, and Ayame guessed that Tohru had slipped by his keen eye sight and went into another room._

"_Hello little brother!" Ayame almost yelled in a joyful voice. Yuki slightly jumped at the sudden presence of his older brother, and then gave an aggravated sigh. The rat decided it was best to just ignore Ayame and continue putting away what he and Tohru got from the store. "Now, now, there's no compelling need to pretend I'm not here. Though, if you still see it fit to not speak to me, I _could_ tell you about the time I was almost late for class one sunny morning--"_

"_No!" Yuki said loudly, turning around so fast that he almost knocked over a can of food. The last thing he needed on this already-stressful day was for his brother to jabber on about something that was, more than likely, inappropriate and stupid. However, Ayame smiled at the sudden outburst of his younger brother._

"_I see, I see!" he said with a gleam in his eye. "Maybe another time, then. Actually, I'd rather talk about something else. You're growing up now, and there will be some changes…" Before Ayame could continue, Yuki quickly shook his head._

"_Whatever you're about to say, I'd keep it to yourself," he said as his eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm well educated about these health-related issues, thank you."_

"_Ah, well then, you won't mind me asking how you and the Princess are getting along, hm?" Ayame asked, as if this kind of conversation was a daily part of life with Yuki and him. There was a stale silence as Yuki's left eye started to faintly twitch at the question. However, it couldn't helped but to be noticed that a sort of 'relief' spread throughout Yuki's face, as though he had expected Ayame to be talking about something other than relationships._

"_We're getting along just fine," Yuki finally replied in a calm manner, turning his attention back to the last remaining items on the counter._

"_Ah, young love blossoms," Ayame said quietly, more so to himself. However, Yuki did, in fact, hear exactly what was said, and threw a dish towel straight at Ayame, who had expected this and ducked out of the way in time. "Then I am not wrong? Good, good! You know, I'm very good at giving advice, so there's no need to hesitate about asking me a question your young mind might not know the answer to." _

"_No. Thanks," Yuki muttered, and Ayame could see that his cheeks were bright red._

"_Well, there's one thing I'd like to say, actually," Ayame said and put a hand over Yuki's mouth, just as he was about to protest on Ayame saying anything at all. "It's not much, but it's the best advice I can give right now. Don't let _him_ find out." Yuki stopped trying to pry Ayame's hand from his mouth and became deathly still at the mention of the Head of the Sohma family. The snake removed his hand, now assured that his younger brother wouldn't shout for him to shut up. _

_The seriousness that was now on Yuki's face made even Ayame a little worried about him and Tohru's relationship. It all reminded him of Hatori and Kana; he was close to Akito, and Kana was an 'outsider'. He knew how Hatori was after he had to erase her memories of him, and Ayame just didn't want the same thing to happen to Yuki as it did with his best friend._

"_Of course I won't let him find out," Yuki finally said, staring right up at Ayame. "I won't let him do anything to her, no matter what. But… thanks…for the warning." Ayame's eyes slightly widened at the tone of Yuki's voice. It wasn't filled with usual annoyance, but instead it was filled with gratitude. It was something he wasn't used to hearing, especially from Yuki. _

_The younger boy had now turned back to the counter to finish putting away the rest of the groceries, presumably_ _ignoring his older brother's presence once more. Taking the opportunity, Ayame dropped the serious look on his face and gave a gleeful smile. _

"_So you _are_ going out with little Tohru-kun! How sweet!" Yuki turned around, his face full of anger, and even slight embarrassment, as he picked up a pot and threw it right at his older brother, who wasn't expected something to come flying at him this time. The pot collided with Ayame's forehead, knocking him to the floor, but the smile on his face only grew bigger, as did the mark the pot left on him. "I see! I see! You threw this pot at me to show how much you love your older brother! But you know, Yuki, that's not a very healthy way to show someone you care about them."_

"_Shut up!" _

-

Before I could contain it, I let out a laugh at the memory. The pot gave me a good sized bump on the head for weeks. It actually was still there, but not as big and painful as before. However, what I liked about that memory was the fact that Yuki was happy. I've never seen him _that_ happy before. It even made me became delighted for him. There was, in any case, the fact that if they weren't careful, Akito would find out about them, and that would surely end horribly. All I wanted was for my brother to be happy, and Tohru makes him just that. She cured him of all the emptiness and loneliness he felt before he met her, and if they weren't meant for each other, then I would know that the world had gone completely insane.

Letting out a sigh, I looked at my watch, almost hopefully. When I saw that only three minutes had gone by, I had a strong urge to chuck the timer out the window.

'_If I had a car I would have been at the hospital by now,'_ I thought irritably. I was starting to grow more impatient by the second now that I tried to get my mind on other things. Like my hands; they was shaking slightly, I noticed, as were my legs; even my breath was uneven. I took a look out the window, but the rain on the glass made it almost impossible to see anything clearly, thus making it harder for me to think of something a bit more cheerful.

But who was I kidding? How could I get my mind off of knowing my brother was in the hospital, and I was on a slow train, unable to see or help him?

I watched as the rain clattered on the window, some of the drops slowly rolling down the glass at an angle by the wind. A single drop of liquid joined the others, though not outside of the train, but on my paling face. I felt the tear slide down my cheek and onto my hand, which was shaking more than ever. All I could think about was Yuki in a hospital bed, hurting on both the outside and inside. I thought about the solemn looks on all my cousin's faces, also waiting for Yuki's condition.

_And I thought about how there was nothing I could do._

-

**Author's Note**: I have come to the conclusion that the spell check on my computer is utter crap. It says I spelled something wrong when I know for a fact that I didn't, and it says I used a sentence fragment when I surely didn't. So sorry if anything's off, I reread this and tried to get anything.

There will be one more chapter in this story. However, there could be a 3rd, if the 2nd gets too long. And I'm sorry if going to Tokyo seems… weird… but what if the Sohma injuries were so bad that they needed more help? And Tokyo was the only Japanese city I know by heart XD;;. Oh, and I want to point out… everyone (mainly Haru) keeps telling Yuki to call Tohru by her name, and not Honda-san. But in Volume 1, at the bottom of page 80,he called her Tohru… huumm.. well, I hoped you liked this chapter! I'll try to have the 2nd one up soon (around a week)!


	2. Hitooshi Sakini

**Chapter 2: Hitooshi Sakini**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fruits Basket. Natsuki Takaya does. If I did, however, I'd cut out Machi and have Yuki and Tohru be together for all eternity. So there. _(sticks tongue out)_

**Warning:** A certain someone swears pretty badly in here. Just to warn you, so you can't say that I didn't tell you so! Huzzah!

-

The rain was falling harder that evening than it was earlier, but it didn't stop the dark-hair 20-year old from storming off to the hospital. He even refused a ride, and no less, an umbrella, and his body was soaking wet. When he finally entered the hospital, he searched around for anyone familiar, but when he found no one, he went to the front desk.

"Where's Yuki Sohma's room?" he demanded, his eyes in a glare. He wasn't very pleased that he was informed about what happened to Yuki an hour or so after it occurred. As the man watched the woman at the counter search through her files, he kept tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk. '_How long can this take?_' The door of the hospital opened once more, and an older man with brown hair came inside, looking almost dire and out of breath. Upon spotting the 20-year old at the front desk, he quickly hurried towards him.

"What are you doing here?" the dark haired man asked before the other could say a word. He turned towards the older man with narrowed eyes.

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't collapse, or anything. It's cold out and raining, and--" but before he could finish, the other man put a hand up to stop him.

"I'm not a child," he sneered, then turned back to the woman up front, who was still searching her files. "This is very important and I needed to get here soon." Before the other man could reply, the woman stop flipping through files and took some paper out to look at. She scanned it quickly and looked back up at the two men.

"I'm sorry, sir. Yuki Sohma is still in surgery," the woman said as she put the papers away again.

"_Still in surgery?_" he repeated loudly with slight annoyance. He put a hand to his forehead and waved his other hand at the older man, who was trying to see if he was alright. "_Fine_. What part of the building is he in?" After finding out what part Yuki was in, the 20-year old marched into the elevator, closely followed by the brown haired man. They only needed to go up three floors to reach the area Yuki was at and they quickly got out of the elevator and walk down the hall.

However, the dark haired man suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder towards the brown haired man, who was wide-eyed and tired.

"Stay here, Kureno."

There was a pause before the other man answered, almost forcefully.

"Yes, Akito."

-

**Ayame's P.O.V**

-

It seemed almost impossible for the rain to come down faster, but the proof that it was, was right outside the window. I might as well just close my eyes; I can't even make out a decent shape. I looked at my watch once more and my heart gave a jump. If the time wasn't off, and I'm sure it's not, I should be at the station at any second.

Just as I thought, the train started slowing down, then finally came to a complete stop. I jumped out of my seat and quickly went to the front. When the doors opened, I got off and hurried into the direction I needed to go to get to the hospital. Though I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get there, I still ran as fast as I could.

'_This probably is a sight; me, running,'_ I though almost bitterly with a smirk. I knew that any other time, it would be comical, but in a situation like this, it was far from that.

As I ran down the streets, dodging anyone who was in the way, a vision flashed through my head. It happened years ago, when Yuki was just around the age of four. His little shaking hand reached for me, but I just…pulled away; it was probably the event that made Yuki hate me. My heart started to beat faster as I started to remember what exactly happened that day…

-

_Ayame walked through the halls of the Main House, searching for something to do. He had no idea where Shigure was and Hatori was too busy with 'school work'. As he turned a corner to head out to look for Shigure, Ayame came face to face with his younger brother._

_His darkened gray hair was at first hanging in front of his face, hiding it completely. However, when he heard Ayame, Yuki quickly looked up at him. The look in his eye was almost distant, and filled with such sorrow that even Ayame had to look away from it. He started to continue his walk passed Yuki when a saddened voice from behind him filled his ears._

"_Nii-san…?"_

_Ayame slowly turned around to see his brother still looking at him, almost hopefully. He didn't knew what to do; he never really talked to Yuki. However, before Ayame knew it, Yuki's small hand, slightly shaking, lightly took a hold of his shirt sleeve, while he stood there, almost in shock._

"_Nii-san, please…Akito…" _

_Ignoring the last word Yuki had whispered, Ayame finally got out of his small shock and did the first thing that came to mind: he pulled his arm away. He was never in this kind of situation before that it made him slightly uncomfortable and nervous. Without another look at his younger brother, Ayame hurried down the hall. However, as he was leaving, he heard a sniffle and a sob come from Yuki, but he brushed it out of his mind as if it was a boring chore. _

_Ayame rounded the corner of the ending hallway, and let out a small sigh of relief as he became out of sight to Yuki. Instead, he had gone into the path of the Head of House, Akito, almost knocking into him as he was hurrying away. Akito looked up at the snake with his small cold eyes. Even if he was just the young age of seven, he was the most intimidating person Ayame had ever met. _

"_Watch where you're going, _snake_," Akito snarled, pushing past Ayame with an aggravated sigh. He turned the corner Ayame had just seconds ago, where his brother was more than likely still at. A sudden urge to stop Akito took over him for only a slight second before he brushed that, too, away. Without anymore thoughts or worries, Ayame continued his walk around the Main House, looking for something to do…_

_-_

It was easy to say that all the memories I've ever had, that one was by far the worst. I was so cruel as to push my brother away like that; when he needed me. Even now I don't know why he came to me, why he looked and acted so afraid. Though, I did know one thing: it was caused by Akito.

Silently growling to myself, I continued my way down the street. Very slowly, almost as if it wasn't moving at all, the hospital came into my view. My pace became quicker and I dodged a lot more people with such speed that if I was in a different situation, I'd be worried about bumping into a female and transforming. However, now wasn't the time to think of such silly little things as that. I needed to get to my brother as soon as possible, and thinking would only slow me down and make me even more careless.

-

**Third Person**

-

Shigure still sat in his chair, slowly tapping his fingers on the arm rest. There was still no update on Yuki's health, and all they ever got from the nurse was 'he's _still_ in surgery', though minus the 'so quit askin' me you friggin ogre!' part. To add to their anxiety, Ayame was still missing from the room. Hatori tried getting a hold of him, but with no luck what-so-ever. They guessed that he was either on his way or, God forbid, stuck in the rain somewhere.

Everyone in the room was tense and tired while they waited to see Yuki. Momiji, Kisa, and Hiro had all fallen asleep on their chairs from the wait, while Kagura was on her way to doing the same. Haru had barely moved from his seat since he arrived with the others, and even Kyo was slightly pale. Tohru, however, was the one person that Shigure was worrying about, other than Ayame. He knew about Yuki and Tohru's relationship, and with what happened to him, she would surely be taking it rough. Though she didn't show it, as she was just sitting down in the corner, her gaze on the floor, slightly trembling, Shigure knew that Tohru was slowly, yet harshly, breaking inside. She had lost her father and mother, and now, if she were to lose Yuki…

Shigure closed his eyes tightly while letting out a sigh. There was no time to be thinking about the worst. Yuki would be fine, and if he wasn't, a doctor would have already come into the waiting room to tell them so. With a small yawn, he, too, started to drift to sleep. However, a pounding noise entered Shigure's ears that made his eyes stay opened. At first, he thought he was just hearing things, but the noise became louder that even Hatori looked for the source.

With a sudden realization, Shigure instantly knew where the sound was coming from, and who was making it. He quickly got up in hopes of stopping the person before he reached the room, but was only seconds late. The door flung opened and Akito stormed inside, a look of pure hate and annoyance traced in his eyes. He didn't say anything at first; just stared at Shigure, who stared right back, without even a blink. A minute past before anything happened, and the now-awake Sohma's had their eyes on Akito, waiting for his reaction.

The young Head Master slowly took his gaze off of Shigure and turned towards Hatori, who was also staring at the boy with slightly wide eyes.

"Hatori," he said, beckoning his finger. Hatori snapped out of his state of stone-like appearance and was instantly by Akito the moment his name was said.

"Yes, Akito?" Hatori answered, almost blankly. It was quite obvious, at least to Shigure, that he didn't want to deal with Akito at the moment. There were so many things on his mind, as well as the others, that he just couldn't ignore, and that kept him from being focused. It was almost uncharacteristic for Hatori, in Shigure's opinion.

"What is going on?" Akito asked in an angry whisper. Hatori let out a barely audible sigh and explained everything about why Yuki was in the hospital and the details, from what he knew, about what was going on with Yuki that instant. Shigure had still not moved from his place, partially because he wasn't aware that he was still standing. His eyes fell onto Akito's, who was staring directly at Hatori, listening to every word that was being uttered to him.

Finally getting out of his trance, Shigure slowly moved towards the window to see if Ayame was anywhere in sight. The streets were practically empty, since the rain was still coming down hard. However, not too far from the entrance on the hospital, Shigure saw a figure running towards the building. Instantly, the dog knew who it was, since long silver hair could be seen on the man, until he entered the hospital and went out of sight. As Shigure turned around to announce that Ayame was finally here, Akito's loud yell came first.

"And you couldn't treat him? You're a fucking doctor for God's sake! It should be that if you can't fix him, then now one can! Did you even _try_! I don't want some stranger operating on someone in this family!"

Hatori stared at the younger boy with wide, shocked eyes. He had not expected Akito to say something like that to him, though it wasn't far off from what was usually said by Akito. Though the _words_ he had chosen to yell at the doctor with were quite strange to his usual 'you messed up and now you'll have to pay the consequences' talk.

"Akito," Hatori finally said, quickly running a hand through his hair. "I couldn't do anything about this arrangement. He was rushed here before any of us knew what had happened. Besides, I think it's best that he-" Hatori stopped in mid-sentence before he could explain anything else to Akito. His eyes wondered from the younger boy to the door, and everyone else followed his gaze.

In the door way, his whole body soaking wet from the harsh rain, stood Ayame with wide, almost terrifying eyes while gasping for air from all the running he had just done. He looked back and forth, from Akito and Hatori to the rest of the Sohma's in the room. Everyone went dead silent, even Akito hadn't said anything harsh about how Ayame had looked. However, there was only one thing in the room that wasn't silent; a doctor came inside, unaware of what had previously and even presently been going on. He looked at everyone in the room, holding his clipboard up to his face, scanning it quickly.

"Are you the Sohma's?" he asked, looking at each one of them again.

"Yes, we are," Hatori spoke up, walking away from Akito to get closer towards the doctor. "How is Yuki doing?" Everyone else sat up straight, in hopes that there was some news, preferably good, about Yuki and his condition. Ayame's eyes quickly fixed onto the doctor, waiting for what he was going to say. He wanted all his worrying to disappear, hoping that Yuki would be awake and alright. Everyone in the room wanted just that.

The doctor looked at his clipboard once more, scanning it again, but taking much longer. By now, the tension was so thin that you could cut it with a knife. Finally, the doctor looked up, mainly at Hatori, who was standing almost directly in front of him, and cleared his throat. Now, after an hour of scared wonder, they would find out what was going on with Yuki and what kind of condition he was in...

-

**Author's note**: Ayame's flashback about Yuki may not have (I'm sure it didn't, really) happened, just to let you know. Well, the whole 'Ayame pulling away' part I didn't make, but the stuff in between). Anyways, we learn about Yuki's condition in the next (and last) chapter (along with other things)! I can just see the Soap Opera secretly hidden in this story! But don't worry, not that kind of Soap Opera. We won't find out that Yuki has a twin brother who's been secretly in love with both Tohru _and_ Kagura. And Yuki won't go into a coma. It's the least I can do XD. To the reviewers:

**october darkness****, furubafanatic749, ****lazy fat kitsune**Sorry I didn't update this sooner T.T so many things going on . but the next chapter will be out a lot sooner!

**ShuichisLover** I'm glad you loved it XD Sorry I didn't get this chapter out sooner though T.T The next one will be out soon though, I guarantee it!

**Ritchan-san: **Thank you so much for reviewing this! I really appreciate it! And I'm sure Yuki'll pull through this one… or will he? Dramatic there, yeah XD. Again, thanks!

I… love you all. _(snickers at her stupid imitation of Akito in Volume 10)_ haha but seriously, thanks _so_ much!


	3. Yasumichuu bondo

**Chapter 3:** **Yasumichuu bondo**

**Disclaimer**: My last one for this story. Yeah, so it was only 3 chapters long.. heh heh. Anyways, I don't own Fruits Basket (that's Natsuki Takaya's piece of work). I do own the plot though. Nothing else. Nope, nothing… _(faint pounding on door with a certain gray-haired, violet eyed male's voice yelling for help.)_ Nothing I've got is interesting, I assure you.

The first few paragraphs talk about what a few people were thinking while the doctor was looking at the papers, just to let you know. And it's regular POV, no "I's" or "Me's" in this one.

-

Akito stared at the doctor with glaring eyes while sarcastically thinking, _'Taking his precious time looking over the papers, just like his little friend at the front desk.'_ It was an easy job to do, but Akito was impatient and wanted to hear about Yuki's condition a lot sooner then the pace the doctor was going.

'_After all, he is my _pet. _I won't let him leave me so easily._'

All while Akito was thinking his harsh thoughts, Tohru had gotten up from her seat and was staring at the doctor with hope in her eyes. The wait seemed to last forever and now was the time where they all find out about his condition. _'Please let him be alright. I don't think I'd be able to go on if he were to... to die. Let everything be fine.'_ Tohru thought that over again and again, hoping for it to be answered. She was too busy in her thoughts to notice the amount of shaking she was doing. Momiji was the one to bring her back to reality, gently hugging her arm for comfort.

None of this, however, was as bad as what was going through Ayame's mind. He was unaware of how cold his body had gotten from the rain that had flooded him earlier. It wasn't too bad for him to transform, however, and he took a few steps inside. His eyes were still as wide as they could be, and a tint of red could be seen forming in them. The thoughts in his mind were racing, thinking about the possibility of what could have happened to Yuki. '_What if he d-dies? And I wasn't able to fix our relationship. I want him to know that I'm truly sorry about what I did, or didn't do, in the past. ' _

The doctor finally looked up and quickly looked around the room at every Sohma, and Tohru, before focusing his stare at Hatori.

"Well? Is he alright?" Hatori himself was starting to get impatient with the doctor for reading the papers so slow. They have been waiting in the same stale room for hours, not getting one bit of information about Yuki. Now that the doctor finally came out, taking his time on giving them an update, Hatori was just about to rip the clipboard from his hands so he could read it himself, in a much faster pace.

"Yes, he's fine," the doctor said, and everyone, who was anxiously waiting for an answer, sighed in relief. The horrible thoughts in Ayame's head slowly disappeared, but some of the feelings remained, as they still didn't know what kind of condition he was in. Though, the doctor started to continue on to exactly that. "When he was hit, he lost a lot of blood from a rather large cut on the back of his head. We were able to stitch that up. He also has a few bruises and scratches, and a slight concussion, but he should be fine otherwise."

Now that Ayame knew Yuki would be alright, his worries soon evaporated. Sure, he didn't like the fact that his younger brother went through the surgery and that he even got pretty hurt, but at least he was still alive.

"He's a bit drowsy from surgery, though you may see him now. He's in room 203," the doctor said, pointing down the hall where Yuki's room was, "but only one person at a time." As the doctor left, everyone in the room turned to Ayame.

"Go on, Aaya," Shigure said, giving him a small smile. Now that they all knew what kind of condition Yuki was in, a huge weight seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders. "You _are_ his brother, after all." There were no objections to this arrangement, since Akito had quietly left the room after Yuki's current state was announced. It was quite unusual for him, since they were all so sure that he'd want to be the one to see Yuki first. However, it couldn't be more of a relief to Ayame, considering he knew that the first person his brother wanted to see wouldn't be Akito. Though Ayame was sure he'd be next in the line.

With a small nod, Ayame headed down the hall where the doctor had pointed to. His stomach was a bit uneasy, being as he was about to see his brother soon. It just wasn't something he was used to, visiting the hospital because someone dear to you had been hurt. What was he going to say, to do? Surely he couldn't act his usual way, since Yuki would more than likely become even more stressed out. Though, Ayame's serious side wasn't much better, since he never used it in front of anyone other than Hatori, Shigure, and Mine. On his way down the hallway, he passed a group of gossiping nurses, who were whispering so quietly that all Ayame heard was a murmur. This scene reminded him of another memory he wished to forget…

-

_A crowd of maids and servants were standing in front of a tightly closed door. The only thing from inside that showed it was in use was the tiny light that seeped through the only crack in the door. Ayame quietly walked down the hallway, hoping to hear what was going on, since whatever it was had been happening for an hour already. The crowd wasn't too shy about keeping quiet, but they were enough so that it would surely not be heard from the other side of the door._

"_Yes, another asthma attack," a maid said with a nod. "I saw the doctor go in there with my very own eyes. He looked hurried, even panicked."_

"_Then the boy, Yuki was it? Yes, that's it. Well, he must have had a bad one," a servant whispered. Ayame's ears perked up upon hearing his brother's name. It made sense that it was him. The only thing he knew about Yuki was that he had a breathing problem. "It almost seems as he's getting worse than better, as they said he would, well should be."_

_They all quieted, and Ayame moved closer to see why. A faint gasping of air could be heard from the closed door, and another voice instructing the other to 'catch his breathe'. _

"_He does seem worse, doesn't he?" the first maid asked, shaking her head sadly. "What a shame. He's such a little boy to go through this. Going on every day so carefully that he couldn't get an attack. And being cooped inside isn't much of a help, either. Like a total isolation from the world."_

_Ayame had enough of the talk at this point, which he started to find boring, and continued his way down the hall, passing the crowd of gossipers. The last thing he heard from them made his stomach lurch…_

"_Isn't that the boy's brother?" someone asked to another quietly. They didn't know that Ayame could hear their every word, and he pretended like he couldn't._

"_Yes, that is," another replied sadly. "I'm not sure he knows what's happening."_

"_Don't need to, does he?" a gruff voice of a man came this time. "Even if he did, he just _wouldn't care_." Ayame continued his walk down the hall, slightly faster so he couldn't hear the crowd anymore. He couldn't exactly pin point as to why it hurt him to hear the man say that about him. For a second, Ayame pondered if it was because he was starting to care for his brother…_

"_No. It's not that. He means nothing to me. Nothing."_

-

Ayame almost stopped his walking at this point, thinking about what he had said. It was so harsh to know that those words came from his very mouth. He didn't mean it, especially so for the last few years. The man was right though, at that time he wouldn't have cared; he didn't. More than anything did Ayame want to slap himself for being so cruel to Yuki when they were younger. He didn't want such memories to exist inside his mind anymore. After closing his eyes for a few seconds, he opened them to look at the room numbers.

_200… 201… 202… _203

With a deep breath, Ayame slowly and quietly opened the door to Yuki's room. The first thing he saw was a monitor by Yuki's bed, watching over certain things about how Yuki's health was doing. He didn't know much about those things, except the beeping sound that he was currently hearing. All Ayame knew about it was that the beeps were a good sign. The next thing he saw made him hold his breath for a slight second. Yuki was half-awake in the hospital bed, looking forward at the wall with drooping eyes. His head was bandaged and Ayame could see a few scratches on Yuki's face; some small, some big, and one that was a bit deep. A bruise was starting to form on his chin, though it was hardly noticeable.

Snapping out of his observations of his poor brother, Ayame entered the room fully, now making his appearance known to Yuki. He looked over at the snake, who gave him a wide smile.

"Hello, Yuki!" Ayame said, though not as loudly and bubbly as he usually would have. For the sake of his brother, he was going to try and be less annoying. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

Yuki shook his head slowly, almost surprised at how calm Ayame was acting. Though, he had to admit that he didn't miss the loud Ayame too much, at least not now.

"Are you sure?" Ayame asked, slightly worried, but started to calm a bit when Yuki nodded.

"I'm fine. Thanks," Yuki replied in a muffled voice. Ayame gave a smile, glad to hear Yuki say something. "Why are you here?" Ayame blinked at the words with a bit of a blank expression. They weren't said harshly at all; he said them quite calmly. It's the content of them that made him feel a familiar uneasiness in the stomach.

"I came to see you, of course!" Ayame replied, trying to keep his voice steady. Yuki's eyes slightly widened, since his brother was unable to keep the calm in his voice.

"That's not what I meant," he said quietly, quickly shaking his head. "I mean, well… I don't know." What Ayame didn't know was that Yuki was thinking about the memory his older brother had in his head minutes ago. It just seemed to briefly surprise Yuki that Ayame was there, as he, for only a few seconds, thought that he was still the little sick boy years ago. Now, though… now Ayame was here, and Yuki couldn't help but feel very grateful. "Thank you for coming. I'm sorry I questioned why you came."

"No, no, I'm the one who should be sorry," Ayame said, just as quietly as Yuki had. "I don't doubt that you wondered why I came. Years ago… I might not have." He shook his head, trying to get the feeling of sorrow out so that he could talk straightly. "But that's old. It was stupid of me to act that way. What kind of brother had that made me? Horrible, I'm sure."

"Nii-san.." Yuki started, but Ayame continued nonetheless.

"I know I've said this a few times, but I still want you to know that I should have been there for you. I'm sorry that I wasn't. If I could take that back, I would. I would've become a better brother to you back then, instead of completely ignoring you. But I promise you this: I will be a better brother from now on. If you need anything, you know you can come to me. I won't push you away or ignore you. I'll help you in any way I can, because I want to. And I won't be a horrible person like I was years ago."

Ayame let out a breath as he finished his speech. He wasn't sure how all those things came out of his mouth like that, since he wasn't usually a serious person. However, he was glad to finally get those things off of his chest.

"Nii-san," Yuki started again, now with a small smile on his face. "You aren't a horrible person. Or brother. I know I've been harsh to you for a while, but I really do appreciate that you're trying to fix things. And, you are a good brother now. You're trying hard to close this gap, and even if it is going a little slowly, it's still going. I should have been thanking you instead of being annoyed with you. So… thank you."

Ayame's mouth was hanging slightly opened as Yuki said those words. He didn't believe that he thought he was a good brother, but there the words are. Yuki did think he was a good brother, now at least. A wide smile formed on Ayame's face, and he lost his calm demeanor and gave Yuki his usual hug.

"Nii-san, you're crushing my already sore bones!" Yuki's muffled voice said, and Ayame quickly pulled away.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot," he said, still smiling. He looked at his watch and slowly got up. "I'm sure that Tohru-kun will want to see you now, hm?" Yuki gave a small blush at the mention of Tohru, and at Ayame's suggestive voice. "I'll be back to visit very soon! Get better, little brother!Adieu!" With his usual wave, Ayame opened the door of the room and walked out. On a chair across from the room was Tohru, patiently waiting to go in after Ayame. When she heard the door open, she looked up at the silver haired man, who gave her a smile that indicated that she could go in now. With a nod, Tohru got up and headed inside. The door of the room was left slightly opened and Ayame couldn't help but briefly listen in on the conversation, as he was quite curious.

"Are you alright, Yuki-kun?" Tohru asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm alright," Yuki said warmly, and Ayame could just see the smile on his younger brother's face. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Oh, don't be! I'm just glad you're alright," Tohru said in slight panic. Her voice then became quiet as she continued. "You scared me, though. The nurse wouldn't say what kind of condition you were in, so we couldn't help but think the worst."

"I'm sorry," Yuki said sadly. "I'm fine now, so you don't have to think about anything bad anymore." The room then went quiet, and Ayame took this time to leave them alone. As he walked down the hall, Ayame couldn't help but smile. _'He's going to be alright.'_

However, as Ayame entered the main waiting room, where the rest of the Sohma's were, he spotted Akito, who had seemed to suddenly reappear, talking angrily to Hatori. The doctor looked as though he was trying to calm him down, but it wasn't doing much good. As Ayame got closer, he started to hear the conversation.

"I don't care if anyone's in there now. I'm going to see him," Akito said angrily, finally walking by Hatori. He walked towards Ayame, who was standing in the entrance of the hallway. At the last minute, the snake stepped in front of the Head and all the Sohma's eyes were on him for his courageous move.

"I don't think you should see him" Ayame said to Akito, his golden eyes now flaming. In no way was he going to let Akito see Yuki, at least not today. That's the last thing his brother needed.

"You have no right to tell me what I should or should not do," Akito sneered, trying to get past Ayame. However, the snake bravely stood directly in front of the Head of the family once more. No words were said from Ayame, seeing as his actions spoke louder than any words he could say. For a split second, it looked as if Akito would lash out at him, but to Ayame's surprise, as well as the other Sohma's, he kept quite still. His eyes burned at the snake, as if telling him he was lucky there were so many people around.

"I'm not going to do anything, _snake_," Akito said harshly with a brutal glare. "I don't have the time or energy to do so. But you can't make it so that I will never see him; that's impossible." With one last huff of breath, Akito turned around and angrily left the room. Ayame knew that he couldn't stop the Head from ever seeing Yuki, but he could at least postpone it. Shigure, and even Hatori, looked at Ayame with wide-eyes before giving him the widest smiles he'd ever seen them give. Shigure and Ayame made eye contact and gave their traditional thumbs-up in triumph. Still smiling, Ayame looked down the hallway to where Yuki's room was at, and gave a quick nod.

Now he felt like a worthy brother.

-

_fin_

-

**Author's Note**: Boy, do I like writing about Yuki being hurt or what? At least he lives, though .. The title names are in Japanese; forgot to mention that in the previous chapter XD. And I'll bet you anything that they're incorrect, because I don't know much Japanese. I tried to, but I gave up on the first page of the book I had. Anyways, Chapter 1 means: Accident/Emergency. Chapter 2 means: Pushed Away. And this chapter means: Closed Bond. And if anything about what was going on with Yuki and his condition is wrong, I'm dreadfully sorry. I'm not a doctor, I'm not studying to be a doctor, and I don't _want_ to be a doctor, therefore my knowledge lacks medical information. I tried my best.

Well, apparently I'm not allowed to separately note to each of you. Fanfiction put a rule against it, and I don't want another of my stories to be deleted _again_. But I will say, I **thank you all** for reviewing my story (and to those who just read)! I _really_ appreciate it, and I'm glad you took time in reading this. I take each review to heart. Thank you all again, you're pretty much the reason why I write and update! Now, lets see if we can make it to 20 reviews, cause I like even numbers (I'm weird, yes)! See you in the next story!


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